Yard system for wood-preservation plants



June 26, 1928.

' w. H. GRADY nm: sswl Fon woon PRESERVATION PLANTS IIL June 26, 1928.

' W. H. GRADY YARD SYSTEM FOR WOOD PRESERVATION PLANTS :J1/wanton m@ ff. 5M

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Filed Aug. 4, 1927 Gttozmif June 2s, 192s.

:s Shets-sheez 3 Filed Aug. 4, 1927 nlHll Patented June 26, 1928.

narran s'rAras Paraai"v ferries.

WILLIAM II. GEADY, or LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, AssIeNon To AMERICAN cnnosofrn ING COMPANY, E LOUISVILLE, KENTUcKY, A coEIoEATIoN o'E INDIANA.

YARD SEE'IElltll FOR WOOD-PRESERVATION EILAN'TS.`

Application iled August 4, 1927. Serial No..2 10,l707.

This invention relates vto an arrangement of the various elements of a plant for preserving wood, and is particularly intended,

thought capable ot other uses. for a plant in4 5 which railroad ties are to be impregnated with preservative liquids such as creosote.

The general .method oit treating ties has been to store the ties in piles, containing as many asa thousand ties. in which they are allowed to air-dry. Railroad tracks ot Vstandard gauge are arranged between the piles, and the ties are unloaded from the railway cars on to the piles by cranes travelv ing on the tracks.

...For the creosoting:operation the ties are loaded fromthe piles onto tram-cars runningonnarrow gauge tracks. these carsV being usually of skeleton construction and provided ywith upwardly extending bolstei1 arms, ongwhich the.l load of ties is kept in shape by semi-circularbails (see e. Patent No. 1,428,474, Cook et al.,Sept. 5, 1922) ,so that theload has a generally cylindrical r shapeland of such diameter thatthe loaded d cars (In. a train ot ten or more) can be run vintok thev long cylindrical..retorts in which Athe preservative :chemicals areinjected; into the wood by pressure. The ties are` sometimes treated without any preliminary woodworking treatment.; At other times, the rties are ad7ed'and Vbored before being treated,` 'this wood-working being eiiected at a fixed l v plant equipped with machinery ,tory that purpose. i In this latter procedure..the same trams, which are used to carry the ties to the impregnation cylinders. are used tor transporting the ties from the ystock piles tov thekwood-working plant, and tor this purpose larger loadscan be carried ifthe bolster arms of the tram-cars areprovided with extension arms as shown'in my application Serial No;185,502. filed April. 21, 1927).

After being VWood-worked the tiesy are again loaded onto tram-cars, the load being ycylindrically shaped andl held in place by bails,` the .thus loaded trams being taken to the impregnating cylinders and atter the treatment are `delivered tothe loading stationywhere lafter the bails have been removed, the treated ties are vloaded on standard gauge'railway cars -for shipment. p

In this cycle of operationsfthere is thus fan accumulation ofextension arms, removedr from the trams at the wood-working plant and an accumulation of bails at the shipping platform, and one feature ot my invention is the provision of a special tracko'etween the'wood-working Vplant and the shipping platform, on which can run a car for interchange j of hails and extension arms. For this purposevI have devised-a special form ot shuttle car7 shown in my application Serial No. 194,431. tiled -May 26, 1927. n

In order to 4facilitate the loading of the ties from the stock pilesto the tram cars, I

have invented a dumping table and vload f tion.`

By the use ofthese yvarious mechanically operating devices, the ties, from thetime they enter the yard on the railway cars until .they are delivered in tramcars to the loading platform Vfor shipment, are handled witha' minimum ot manual labor andata lmuch diminished operating cost.

1In carrying` out thisA general operating scheme, vrit has been -necessaryvto devise a .special arrangement of tracks, of both standard and narrow gauge, connecting the stock piles, the treating plant, `the wood-working .plant and the loading station, andV it'is to this arrangement that the present invention relates. 'f l.

Theinvention will be readily understood Fig. tion;

Fig. 1a shows a detail;V and .l

Figs. 2 and 3 represent modiiications.

Referring to Fig. 1, the treating plant is indicated at l., and the wood-working plant at 2. The storage'yard is connected to the railroad track 3 by a siding, A4t, from .which Abranch other standard gauge tracks, a, a,A a,

'between which are locatedthe piles ot' ties, 5. The standard gauge tracks are shown by double lines. p

Located adjacent each of thesetracks a is an industrial or narrowfgauge tram-car Ltrom the accompanying diagrams in which 1 represents one form of the invenspur track b, (indicated by single lines) the ends of these spurs being connected to a ladder track fmy which in turn may connect to a series of storage or assembly tracks c, and to tracks h, and lZ, leading to the treating plant 1. Suitable cross-overs and switches enable tram-cars to be delivered to Vtrack le which slopes downwardly to one side of the wood-working plant, the tram-cars after unloading being transferred by a loop-track to the other side of the wood-working plant Where they are again loaded with adzed and bored ties (the loads being hailed to hold them in shape), and carried on the downwardly sloping track y' to either t-rack h. or i to the treating lant 1, from which the tramcars carr ing t e treated ties are delivered over trac s h and to tracks f extending to the loading station tracks al and c, where after the bails are removed, the ties areloaded on to railway cars for shipment. The track g extends from the loading tracks te Y the wood-working plant and provides means for rapid transfer of the removable bails and extension arms in a shuttle car (which may be of the special construction shown in my application Serial No. 194,431, filed May 26, 1927) operating to and from the woodworking plant and the loading platform,

The cycle of operations as carried out with this form of my invention when the ties are to be adzed before treatment is as follows:

Empty trams equipped with extensions arms and clearance plates are located on any track b in the tie yard. Alocomotive crane (or similar hoisting machine) operates on the `next adjacent standard track a, and by use of the gathering cable a load of ties is gathered up and placed on an empty tram, the extension arms affording a ready entrance to guide the load into the tram and `making possible a large load. When a sufficient number of trams has been loaded, a

train, usually about 15 to 2O trams, 1s switched to the wood-working `plant via tracks m, h, z' and k. vAs theV trams enter the wood-working plant the loads are me chanically dumped on to the adzing machine. The extension arms are removed and loaded into a shuttle car which operates on shuttle track g. The empty trams are then run around the circular track in rear of woodworking plant to the opposite side where they are reloaded with adzed ties. After reloading, the hails which have previously been removed from the shuttle car. are attached to the trains to secure the loads bes Vfore going into the treating cylinders.

lVith the ties now adzed, reloaded and fastened by -bails', a suitable charge or train, usually consisting of about 15 trams is charged into the treating cylinders via tracks j ande' or h. After treatment the charge is drawn from the treating plant and placed on shipping track f.V The hails are` removed from the treated ties and placed on the shuttle car located on shuttle track g.

The ties are lifted from the trams by a- The shuttlecar, now loaded with hails and containing no arms, is sent to the woodworking plant via shuttle track g, where the bails are removed for use on adzed loads. To avoid delays twoV shuttle cars are kept in service. v

Then the ties are to be treated withoutA being adzed, the extension arms are not used, as the ties must be loaded and fastened by bails for direct charging into the'treating cylinders. In this case, the cycle of operations is as follows:`

The locomotive crane and dumping table are located on any track a, and the load forming devices are located on an adjacent .tram track b. The empty trams Vwith bails lin place are switchedto the same locality, and the hails removed. The trams are then loaded with ties from Vthe stock iles,'h means of the crane, dumpin ta le, an load-formels, the bails are rep aced and the loaded trams are run by track mi to tracks, 0, or to the treating cylinders.

Referring to Fig. 2, the layout is like that of Fig, 1, except that two standardgauge tracks, a, a, are used, and each such track is provided with a third rail to form the industrial tracks b, b. y `The same cycle of operations may 'be carried out, as above described. This arrangement has, however, additional advantag in that the locomotive crane may he operated on either of the two adjacentxstandard gauge tracks, which places the crane within easier reach of the ties stacked on either side of these tracks; the trams may by use of the ln the modification shown in Fig. 3, the

yard tracks are arranged in groups consisting of two standard gauge tracks, a, a, with a narrow gauge track b, between them.

This arrangement permits all the operations of Figs. 1 and 2, with the additional advantages that the tram track b is free for any and all movements of trams throughout its entire length. `In this way the` standard gauge track system is" Vkept entirely separate from the tram tracksystem, which is desirable when` the volume of work makes this economically possible.y

This track arrangement enables me in connection with the various mechanical 'leatures abo-ve described, to carry out the loading and handling of wood preserving cars more economically than has heretofore beenl possible.

I claim:

l.' A wood impregnating plant comprising in combination .a treating plant, a. woodworking plant, and means for delivering material from a. stock yard to said plant-s comprising a. track system consisting oit a having an extension leading to` a loading station, and, also a loop track connected thereto extending to both sides of said woodworking plant, substantially as and for the purpose described. Y

2. A plant as claimed in claim 1 in which the track system comprises groupsof two adjacent standard gauge tracks and an ad# jacent narrow gauge track.

3. A plant as claimed in claim 1 in which the track ,sy-stein comprises groups of two adjacent standard gauge tracks 'each provided with a third rail to form anarrow gauge track.

4. A plantas claimed in claim l in which an additional narrow gauge track is provided between the wood-working plant and the loading station.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature.

WILLIAM H. GRADY. 

